Community Boathouse Clean-up at Vernam Barbadoes Peninsula

The Community Boathouse organization, which provides free kayak programs for the public in Rockaway, teamed up with the NYC Parks Department, and a group of volunteers from the Sumitomo Matsui Trust Bank, to prepare a new kayak launch site at Vernam Barbadoes Peninsula in Arverne. This event, held on Saturday, April 13, was part of the ongoing Pitch in for Parks initiative.

The Community Boathouse is a non-profit organization which typically hosts volunteer-led open paddles, marsh tours and special events throughout the summer months at Beach 88th/ Beach Channel Drive, and at Riis Landing in Fort Tilden. This year, due to the ongoing work at Beach 88th, which will transform this large bayfront area into the new Bay Breeze Park, the Community Boathouse sought out a temporary launch site. Working closely with Parks Department administrator, Eric Peterson, the team from the Community Boathouse was able to transfer the shipping containers filled with kayaks, stand-up paddles and paddle equipment, to the new site along Barbadoes Basin. This site is located off of  Amstel Blvd. on the bayside of Arverne.

This weekend’s work involved the clean-up of the site which suffered from years of accumulated trash, debris and natural overgrowth. The volunteer group from Sumitomo Bank joined forces with the CB team to clean-up acres of land on the preserve, to remove hundreds of pounds of industrial debris from the area, and to distribute several cubic yards of wood chips in preparation for public use. In total, there were over 30 contractor bags of trash collected.

For the latest information on Community Boathouse events and activities, please check out their website at www.communityboathouse.org